Monday, March 3, 2014

It is good to see a government in Shanghai stepped in to ban the taxi driver from receiving bookings from smartphone apps during certain peak hours to avoid creating a situation that severely disadvantage those that have been left behind by technology.

The following story illustrates the dire situation that requires intervention:

The following story was widely circulated in Shanghai recently, and
illustrates the point. It is about an old woman who stood on the street,
in front of a hospital gate after she had just visited the doctor for
some medical checks.

She waited on the street for about an hour trying to hail a taxi without success.

Many taxis stopped but the first question the drivers asked her was
if she had this or that taxi-booking app in her smartphone in the hope
they could get the bonus on top of the normal fare. She didn't have one
of the apps so those taxi drivers said sorry and left her on the side of
the road.

Companies & individuals should never be allowed to have a one-sided view exploiting technology to benefit a few and leaving those less capable and sadly the most vulnerable behind. Technology can both benefit a society but can also destroy it depending on whether one can strike a balance.

The government of Shanghai should be congratulated for recognising

new technology should improve the quality of life for the general
public, not just allow some people, like taxi drivers, to make quick
money or help app developers quickly gather enough users so they can get
listed on Nasdaq and make their own fortune.